


Touchdown

by Anonymous



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Best Friends, First Meetings, Gen, Platonic Hand-Holding, Platonic Relationships, they're best friends your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport." - Love ActuallyRanboo has collected his case from the carousel, has his rucksack on his shoulder, and heads through 'Nothing to declare'. He’s fine, everything is fine - Tubbo has already replied that he’s there and waiting at arrivals, all he has to do is keep walking, and the rest will take care of itself.
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF)
Kudos: 63
Collections: Anonymous





	Touchdown

Ranboo has collected his case from the carousel, has his rucksack on his shoulder, and heads through _Nothing to declare_ , fighting down the irrational fears that he’s picked up the wrong case, that customs are going to haul him in, and, when he sees the heavy metal doors and vaguely ominous signs saying _No return past this point_ , that he’s left every single valuable item he’s ever owned somehow somewhere behind him in the terminal. He’s fine, everything is fine - Tubbo has already replied that he’s there and waiting at arrivals, all he has to do is keep walking, and the rest will take care of itself.

He has to resist the urge to stop walking the second he’s through the doors, knowing he’ll be in everyone’s way if he does, so he slows down a little, squinting at the light flooding in from the plate glass windows, and scanning over the people gathered at the cordons, hoping to spot Tubbo or maybe even one of his sisters.

Tubbo spots him first. There’s a yell of his name, and Ranboo gets a momentary glance of Tubbo with his arms thrown into the air before he’s barelling over to Ranboo at full speed, elbowing past businesspeople in suits and exhasuted travellers in pyjamas alike.

He didn’t mean to pick him up, but the way Tubbo launches himself at him leaves Ranboo with little choice than to let go of his case, stagger backwards, wrap his arms around Tubbo’s middle and hold on for dear life, and try not to topple over under Tubbo’s weight. Or drop him. Or have his neck broken by how tightly Tubbo’s arms are wrapped around it, clinging at his hoodie like he can’t quite believe Ranboo is real.

The feeling is mutual, honestly. He can’t quite believe Tubbo is real either. That after however many months of facetime and discord and whatever else, they’re right there, together, in the same place at last. Ranboo finds he’s started laughing, almost crying, and hasn’t even noticed, absolutely drowned out by how loudly Tubbo is still yelling his name and “it’s really you, oh my god, oh my god, you’re here!” over and over again, right next to his ear, only slightly muffled by Tubbo’s head being buried into his shoulder and the fabric of his now mostly-dislodged mask.

Ranboo starts to lose his grip as Tubbo’s legs flail in the air behind him, and reluctantly he puts him down. Almost instantly though Tubbo’s hand is in his, absolutely dwarfed but clutching tightly, like he’s afraid to let go in case Ranboo vanishes back into thin air and long-distance video calls.

“Hey,” Ranboo says, looking down at his friend in near disbelief, and whilst it’s hidden behind his mask, Ranboo's eyes are grinning.

“Hey yourself,” says Tubbo, taking a moment to swish his hair out of his eyes, before what Ranboo can see of his face above his mask turns oddly contemplative, the expression one he recognises from before Tubbo tends to say either something completely absurd or state the obvious in the oddest way possible. Ranboo readies himself for what he presumes will be a comment on their height difference, or whether he’s weirded out by the UK already, or…

Instead, “Hey, is this our Love Actually moment?” Tubbo asks, and it takes Ranboo a moment to work out what on earth he’s talking about, letting out a surprised laugh when he does. “Y’know, Heathrow airport arrivals, cliché first meeting, all that. If we were in a film people would cry over how happy we are, and put us in a montage.”

“Huh, I guess it is,” Ranboo replies, and Tubbo beams up at him.

“Cool!” he says. Then, “C’mon, mum and Laini’re waiting for us in the carpark. She keeps demanding to know if you brought the dino hoodie.”

“You reminded me like, nine times,” Ranboo says.

“I know, I know, but she won’t believe me until she sees you.”

Ranboo smiles as Tubbo drops into nattering about his sisters and his mom, and all the plans they’ve already made for the coming weeks, grabbing Ranboo’s suitcase and starting to drag both him and it out of the terminal, into the surprisingly warm British summer.

In a few hours, the jetlag will hit, and Ranboo will fall asleep mid conversation on the sofa in Tubbo's room, and when he wakes up, groggy and momentarily unsure of where he is, it will finally sink in that he’s actually left the US for the first time, and flown thousands of miles across an ocean to meet his best friend. But not quite yet - right now his brain is too busy _being_ there, being with his best friend, listening to him chatter and laughing back without the delay of transatlantic signals, just letting the moment happen, knowing that he won’t have to try to remember this.

**Author's Note:**

> THEY. ARE. BEST. FRIENDS. YOUR. HONOR.


End file.
